PREDICTION THAT AN APPARENTLY BARREN WOMAN WOULD GIVE BIRTH TO A SON—ITS LITERAL FULFILLMENT—THAT SON'S REVERENCE FOR THE ELDER WHO MADE THE PREDICTION.
ACCORDING to the Scriptures, prophecy was one of the gift which should characterize the Church in the last days, and thousands can attest that the gift has been enjoyed by the Latter-day Saints to a marked degree.
Under the influence of the Spirit of the Lord many of the Elders have made predictions that have really frightened themselves when they have contemplated them afterwards, for it was only by the eye of the Spirit they could see any probability of their fulfillment.
A case in point is related by Elder C., who filled a mission in England in the early sixties. He, in company with the president of the mission and several other Elders, visited a branch of the Church in which a large number of Saints had made preparations to migrate to Utah, and who desired a blessing under the hands of the Elders before undertaking the journey. It came Elder C.'s turn to bless a. sister who had been married a good many years, but who had no children. She was not perhaps as old as her appearance indicated, but her hair was almost white. In the course of the blessing pronounced upon her Elder C., under the prompting of the Spirit, promised that she should journey safely to Zion and there establish and enjoy a comfortable home, and give birth to a son who would live to call her blessed.
In a spirit of fun the other Elders afterwards jollied Elder C. a good deal about the promise he had made that sister, telling him he had better look at the color of a woman's hair before making her any such extravagant promises as he had in that instance. He was somewhat plagued by their raillery and could offer no defense except to say that the Spirit had prompted him to say what he did. He remembered the promise, but had no means of learning the subsequent history of the sister until a year or so afterward, when, after his return home from his mission, he chanced to meet her husband, who joyfully hailed him with the exclamation, "That boy you promised is born!" But then he added, with tears in his eyes that his wife, who had fondly clung to the promise, was fifty-three years old at the time of the child's birth, and had only lived a short time afterwards, but died happy in the consciousness that the boy survived her, and in the hope that he would indeed live to call her blessed. The parents regarded him as a child of promise, as much so as Isaac of old was, who was born to Sarah in her old age, and named him in honor of Elder C. giving him his christian and surname as well as the surname of his father.
Years afterwards that son, having reached a marriageable age and grown to be a stalwart man, journeyed a long distance with his intended bride to get Elder C., (whom he had never seen, but whom he had been taught from infancy to revere) to perform the marriage ceremony for him, and his ever-increasing posterity will doubtless be taught, as they come to years of understanding, the story of the inspired prediction and its literal fulfillment, as here related.
ELDER BASTIAN INSPIRED TO PREACH IN THE DANISH LANGUAGE BEFORE HE HAD LEARNED IT.
ON THE DAY of Pentecost when the ministry of the Apostles was ushered in with such a wonderful display of supernatural power the assembled multitude heard the Gospel preached in many different languages with which they were severally familiar, but which were strange to the Apostles. This was in fulfillment of the promise of the Savior, as recorded in Mark XVI. 17, that these signs shall follow them that believe: "In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues." The utility of their so speaking must have been at once apparent to those who heard but would not have understood them had they not been inspired to so speak.
Of similar utility has been the gift of tongues enjoyed by a number of Elders in our day when sent upon missions to foreign countries. A case in illustration of this is the experience of Elder Gearsen S. Bastian, formerly Counselor to the President of the Wayne Stake of Zion, but now a resident of Sigurd, Sevier Co., Utah. He was sent on a mission to Denmark in 1888, and was appointed to labor in the Aarhus conference. He found much difficulty in acquiring the Danish language, so much so that he felt discouraged and began to fear that he would never be able to learn it. About that time his missionary companion was released to return home, and Elder Bastian was left in charge of the Randers branch.
Only once had he attempted to speak before the public, and he was only able to say a very few words. Sunday came, and at the appointed time for worship the meeting hall was well filled. After the opening exercises he called upon one of the native Elders to speak, but he had only occupied a few minutes, when a burning desire to speak filled the soul of Elder Bastian. He arose, and under the influence and power of God he preached the gospel with much plainness in the Danish language for an hour and twenty minutes. At the close of the meeting the native brethren and sisters all flocked around him to congratulate him; and they claimed that he had spoken the language with as much plainness as they could have spoken; and they rejoiced greatly. But as yet he could not converse with them; nevertheless the Lord had given to him a testimony that he should thenceforth have freedom and power in preaching the gospel.
THUG HIRED TO ASSAULT "MORMON" PREACHER—HIS MISSION DIVINED BY THE ELDER—A PREDICTION CONCERNING THE INSTIGATOR—ITS LITERAL FULFILLMENT.
BREACHWOOD GREEN, Hertfordshire, England, was the scene of an episode connected with the early preaching of the Gospel in Europe that is worthy of record. About sixty-four years have passed since it occurred but it is still remembered and frequently talked of by the present inhabitants of the place, strangers as well as Saints.
The "Red Lion," one of the principal public houses of the village, which stands facing Oxford Road, was, at the time of which I write, kept by one Samuel Peters, a man of influence and property, who combined the business of baker and provision dealer with that of publican. His family consisted of a wife and six children.
Beneath the wide-spreading branches of a great ash tree which grows opposite the "Red Lion," stood a humble Elder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, declaring the principles of life and salvation, revealed anew in this dispensation. He was a stranger in the place, and had chosen this spot on the public highway in which to hold forth, as he could not obtain the use of a more comfortable or appropriate place. A goodly number of people had gathered about him, and were listening attentively to what he said.
Annoyed at the attention and respect paid by the assembly to a religion and a sect which he so heartily despised, the publican offered a man named Henry Thrussell, a low, drunken character, who was hanging about the tap-room, a quart of beer if he would go out and strike that "Mormon" preacher in the face. The lout, who was half drunk already, willingly accepted the offer and made his way across the street, being watched from the door by his patron and a few loungers about the tavern, who were eager to see the fun.
As Thrussell began elbowing his way through the crowd who had gathered about the speaker, some little resistance was offered to the intrusion, but by his bullying manner be soon forced an entrance. The speaker paused in his remarks on seeing him approach in such an aggressive style, and reaching out his hand to him, he said, "Well, my good man, what do you want?" Disarmed by the friendly greeting, the bully hesitated about replying, when the Elder continued: "Did some one send you here to disturb this meeting?" "Yes, sir!" the follow answered, still hesitating about executing his errand. "Was it the publican yonder?" asked the Elder, as he noticed the men at the tavern door watching the proceedings. Receiving an affirmative reply, he then continued: "I am sorry, very sorry, for his sake! You go and tell that man that judgment will soon overtake him. Though he is now prosperous, he shall soon come to want. Though his family is now healthy, sickness and death will soon come among them, and he will die in poverty, forsaken by his friends!"
The intended assailant turned upon his heel without accomplishing what he was sent for, and retraced his steps to the tavern, where the publican, who had heard the prediction of the servant of God, berated him for his cowardice.
Time passed on. That Elder no longer came to Breachwood Green to preach, for he had journeyed to the land of Zion, in search of a new home and probably thought little of the prediction uttered under the inspiration of the Spirit, and perhaps never knew whether it was fulfilled or not. But if he forgot it, the people who heard it upon that occasion did not. Although many of them, perhaps, did not believe that it would ever come to pass, they have had time since to test by the rule laid down in Deuteronomy xviii, 22, whether the Elder spoke presumptuously or by authority from the Lord. The Lord told Moses, "When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken."
Soon after the prediction was uttered sickness came into the Peters family, and the wife and four of the children died. The husband became dissipated and neglected his business and squandered his property. Financial ruin soon followed and his friends deserted him. After dragging out a miserable existence for a few years, he finally died, forsaken and alone, in a little out-house.
The man Thrussell was still living when the writer visited that locality some years since, and was pointed out to him on the street. He occasionally, in his sober moments, referred to that event, and to the feeling he experienced when facing the Elder, and declared that for the life of him he could not lift his hand to strike the Elder. He also tells of the interest with which he watched for the fulfillment of the prediction, and testified that it was fulfilled.
That Elder's name was John P. Hayes, the same, who lived for many years at Pleasant Grove, Utah, but who is now dead. He is survived by a numerous progeny, who may be interested in learning that the memory of his words still lives in his former field of labor. A few of those who listened to his testimony have since embraced the Gospel, but the most of them are as prone to follow after fables as they ever were; and they still languidly hold to their hollow creeds, which differ as widely from the true Gospel as the light shed by a farthing "dip" does from the glorious effulgence of the noonday sun.
In the text, Chapter IV was originally "Chapter IIII" and part of the heading was cut off; both errors have been corrected to match the Table of Contents. Various errors involving quotation marks have been resolved as seemed reasonable.